Amelia felt her mood sink even lower. She had only been looking for a way to ease her panic, and Lee had offered to enlighten her on the occult. She had assumed it would solve her predicament, but after Lee led her through a maze of convoluted jargon, she found herself with more questions than answers. It dawned on her then that occultism was not something one played with-it was something that played with you.
«Thank you, Lee. I think I understand now,» Amelia said, forcing a faint smile. «Why don't you rest for a bit? We'll be at my place soon.»
Did she truly understand? The information gathered through Lee's sensory control told him otherwise. Yet Amelia was not his disciple; strictly speaking, whatever choice she made was none of his business. «As long as you understand, Amelia,» he replied softly. «I'll take a short nap then. Call me when we arrive.» Having a moment to himself was welcome anyway, and Lee turned his focus back to his own thoughts.
Though Lee talked big, he remained meticulous in his actions. He accompanied Amelia home, gathered her essential belongings, and despite the late hour, drove them both back to his house. While Amelia sat motionless in the living room, Lee bustled about, working tirelessly until four in the morning to finally complete the tailored adjustments to the house's magic array.
To combat the curse released by the Train to Paradise, Lee sacrificed all other functions of the magical territory during this recalibration, channeling every ounce of its power purely into suppressing the curse. It was a risky move. Ordinarily, the domain would boost his strength by at least twenty percent and grant him various auxiliary abilities, advantages he had now effectively surrendered. Yet he had few alternatives. The Train to Paradise was acting like a madman-no, it was mad now. With its vast reserves of power, it could afford to squander energy recklessly for quite some time. Worse still, the closer the train came to total collapse, the stronger the curse became, a surge that would only end when the train finally broke down and the curse destroyed itself.
If Lee wanted to save Amelia, he had to weather this storm. To play it safe, he needed to throw every resource he had into the fight. While the adjustments stripped away his home-field advantage, they doubled the array's suppressive power against the curse. With the array supporting him, Lee felt confident he could keep Amelia alive. As for any unexpected trouble during this period, he considered it a necessary risk-he couldn't just stand by and watch her walk to her death. Besides, looking at it rationally, neither Amelia nor he were prominent figures; no enemies were likely to track them down right now. And Lee still held a final insurance policy: his own power wasn't bound to this place. If push came to shove, he could always make a break for it himself.
With the magical territory overhauled, Amelia was finally able to take a relaxing shower in the small bathroom next to the ground-floor living room. Afterward, she had no choice but to sleep on the sofa while Lee sat nearby. Amelia had asked why they couldn't just use one of the many empty rooms in the house, but Lee turned down the suggestion. To suppress the curse on her as effectively as possible, they needed to stay as close as possible. Out of politeness, they didn't need to be wrapped in each other's arms, so the sofa served as their boundary.
The next morning, September 23rd, Amelia slept in, only rising at ten o'clock. She called the TV station to request time off, but her face turned pale as she put the phone down. «Lee, my colleagues at the station told me that a lot of people went missing last night. Some of their families tried to report it to the police, but because of the timeframe, the police wouldn't open a case. The station management refuses to get involved and is actively hushing it up from the top. Even if the public remains in the dark, everyone inside the station is panicking.» She hesitated before adding, «I… I just mentioned the video to my friend and told him to be careful. The word might spread to others.»
Lee waved his hand, saying nothing. Standing so close, how could he not have heard her? His sensory control wasn't just for show. But everyone had friends and family; could he really expect her to keep her mouth shut and watch her loved ones walk to their deaths? He didn't push her too hard. «It's fine, Amelia. They're your friends-if you can help them, you should.» Then his expression turned grave. «However, Amelia, you'd better wrap up any urgent matters right now. After that, remove your phone's battery and cut off all communication with the outside world. I'll pull the landline plug as well.»
This request crossed a line for her. As a journalist, being trapped here was bad enough, but severing all ties with the outside world felt like forcing an uncrowned king to abdicate. «Lee, why? Will talking to people outside make my curse stronger?»
Lee sighed helplessly. «So many of your colleagues went missing last night, Amelia. Their families are probably driven mad with worry. You just let something slip over the phone; if they come looking for you, what will you do? Go out to help them? Let me make one thing clear: if you step outside this house, I can't guarantee I can keep suppressing your curse. And if you stay inside while they come begging at the door, how will you handle it? My power isn't unlimited. I'm confident I can suppress the curse for you alone, but I can't handle another person. When that happens, do I save you, or do I save them?»
Amelia froze. Perhaps the thought hadn't crossed her mind, or perhaps she had subconsciously ignored it. But now that Lee had laid the choice bare before her, she could no longer escape it. Just then, her phone rang. Without even looking at the screen, she forcefully ripped out the battery. Perhaps because she had exerted too much force, her weakened hands dropped the phone to the floor. She sank onto the sofa in despair, burying her face in her hands as stifled sobs broke from her chest. «Lee… why do you have to force me into making such a cruel choice?»
«Because we aren't powerful enough,» Lee replied quietly. «In a situation like this, overestimating ourselves and trying to play the savior will only destroy us and everyone else.» In truth, Lee lacked experience; he should have insisted on severing all ties with the outside world from the very beginning. Desperate people were capable of madness, clinging to any straw they could catch. He could only count himself lucky that Amelia hadn't said too much. If people came knocking and wrecked his magical territory in their frenzy, he couldn't guarantee her safety either.
Shaking his head to clear his mind of idle thoughts, Lee rose from his chair and sat cross-legged on the floor. Perplexed, Amelia looked at him. «Lee, what are you doing? Why are you sitting on the floor all of a sudden?»
«I need to focus and gather as much strength as I can,» Lee said. «If those people really do come looking for us, I'll need every bit of power to handle the situation.»
Amelia opened her mouth, but no words came out.
«Don't panic, Amelia,» Lee added gently. «I told you before: turn your fear into a treasure instead of letting it master you. A stable mindset will help you resist the curse. If you're hungry, there's plenty of food in the fridge-just heat it up. If you're bored, you can watch TV, but don't go online. There are books on the shelf against the wall if you feel like reading. Don't worry about disturbing me; my training has reached a level where external noise barely affects me.» With that, Lee remained motionless in his meditative posture, falling silent.
Composing herself, Amelia prepared a quick breakfast and turned on the TV, idly flipping through channels. Since Lee didn't subscribe to premium channels, there wasn't much to watch. She had expected this quiet isolation to last a long time, but shortly after eleven, Lee opened his eyes and stood up.
«Amelia, pack your things immediately. We're leaving.»
«Lee? Did something happen?»
«My intuition tells me big trouble is coming our way.»
Lee's sensory control had evolved to the level of the seventh consciousness, manas-the discriminating, self-grasping realm of consciousness that acts as a vast reservoir of human psychic potential, encompassing the vast majority of latent human abilities. When Lee concentrated his mind into a deep meditative state, he could tap into the profound workings of manas. He was no longer merely gathering information from the physical world through his bodily senses; he was piercing the veil of mundane logic to draw insights directly from the sea of space and time. Reaching this realm, regardless of the scale of one's power, truly earned one the title of prophet.
Just now, Lee had caught a fragment of vague information. Analyzing it, he realized that Amelia's slip of the tongue had likely drawn the station people to them. Getting tangled up with them now would spell disaster. There was no point in waiting around to be caught; it was time to run.
Lee pulled out his water gun and shot Amelia with another dose. Out in the open, away from the buffed environment of his magical territory, he had to rely on potions to make up for his power limitations. He quickly packed a suitcase and led Amelia out the door.
«Don't drive your car,» he instructed. «Get into mine.»
After turning a few corners, Lee pulled into a quiet, secluded alley. He stepped out and looked around-no security cameras nearby. Good, this would do. He produced a can of spray paint and began recklessly spraying the exterior of his vehicle. Amelia watched in fascination. The occult really was absurd: in just three minutes, the simple spray can transformed the car's coat into a custom three-tone finish. Most absurd of all, even the numbers on the license plate changed completely once he finished spraying.
«Get in,» Lee said, taking the lead as he got back into the driver's seat. Together, they drove off into the morning traffic.